Robot 6

Comics A.M. | The comics Internet in two minutes

Crime | A St. Louis retailer was subdued Thursday night after a nearly four-hour standoff with police, who had attempted to arrest him on rape and weapons charges. Officers reportedly arrived at Legends Comics & Sports Cards late Thursday afternoon to serve warrants Kenneth McClure when the 57-year-old store owner drew a gun. The officers took cover inside the store and radioed for assistance, and by 9 p.m. McClure was taken into custody. He had been charged in the first-degree statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl, third-degree assault and unlawful use of a weapon. McClure is being held on a $75,000 bond. [St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Riverfront Times]

Graphic novels | Jeff Lemire’s Essex County and Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki Skim are among the CBC’s prestigious Canada Reads program’s Top 40 Essential Canadian Novels of the Decade. Voting continues online through Nov. 7 for the final Top 10. [Canada Reads, via Top Shelf]

DC Entertainment

Publishing | Nairi Gardiner, senior vice president of Warner Bros. Consumer Products, has been named senior vice president, finance, WBCP and DC Entertainment, as part of DC’s restructuring. She will assume the duties of longtime DC employee Patrick Caldon, named in February as part of the five-person executive team, who is retiring. [press release]

Publishing | Johanna Draper Carlson dissects a publisher’s press release and wonders, “just how low are the sales that make a comic successful?” [Comics Worth Reading]

Retailing | Jeffery Klaehn conducts a longish Q&A with retailer Gail Burt about the direct market and the state of the comics industry. [Pop]

Comics | Spurred by Shaenon K. Garrity’s manifesto about the future of comics, Douglas Wolk assumes the role of the Ghost of Comics Yet to Come: “2. Monthly comic books become zombies, too. I’m one of the serial-comic-book faithful, the Wednesday people, and I’d personally love to see that part of comics thrive too. But what I fear is the scenario where there’s just enough fan support to keep X-Men and Batman and a few dozen other titles afloat in perpetuity, but they’re ground out month after month by creators who hold their collaborators and audiences in contempt, just to get a work-for-hire paycheck.” [Techland]

Robert Kirkman

Creators | Robert Kirkman talks about The Walking Dead, simultaneous digital and print release, and pricing: “There’s been a lot of discussion going on at Image, and I feel like every book Image probably should be $3.99 since everything at Marvel is $3.99, and historically independent books have always been a dollar more. When you think about all the advertising and the different things that go into Marvel books that independent books just don’t have, it makes sense for it to be a little higher. But we don’t do it because it’s just not the time; it’s a tough time for people out there and it’s not fair to them … I never raised the prices on any of my books, and I don’t plan to do it any time soon. I make a fine living with all my books being $2.99, and I’ll keep it there until I can’t.” [Comics Alliance]